Saint Clement of Rome Resource Page

St. Clement of Rome (Feast Day - November 24)

Verses

Clement is cast into the depths like an anchor,

And is present with Christ, the anchor of the eschaton.

 

Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (+ 101)

The Martyrdom and Relics of St. Clement of Rome

 

Saint Clement of Rome: the Great Apostolic Father

 

November: Day 24: Teaching 2: Holy Hieromartyr Clement, Bishop of Rome

 

Saint Clement of Rome in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 

Saint Peter of Alexandria Resource Page

St. Peter of Alexandria (Feast Day - November 24)

 

Verses

Unshakable was the faith of the beheaded Peter,

Who saw Christ with a rent tunic.

Holy Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria

 

November: Day 25: Teaching 1: Holy Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria

The Vision of Saint Peter of Alexandria

St. Peter of Alexandria Never Sat On His Patriarchal Throne

 

The Original Copy of the Gospel of John in Ephesus?

 

Saint Clement of Rome in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The blessed and wise Clement was a Roman, descended from a royal lineage, the son of Faustus and Matthidia, and he acquired all the education of Greek knowledge. When he was once saved in a paradoxical way from a shipwreck and happened to meet the foremost of the Apostles, Peter, he was catechized by him in the true faith of Christ. He became a preacher of the gospel and wrote down the Constitutions of the Apostles, at which time he was made Bishop of Rome. However, he was arrested by Domitian and tortured. And because he did not obey his orders, he was exiled to a deserted city, near Kherson. From there again, after they tied an iron anchor to his neck, they threw him into the bottom of the sea and thus came his end.

The God of miraculous things, however, glorifying His own servant even after death, performed a great and enormous supernatural miracle. That is, from the time he was thrown into the sea, the water of the sea receded three miles every year on his commemoration day and became dry land, which welcomed those who went there for seven days, at the specific point where he was cast. This miracle created joy in those who hoped in the Lord. Once, when the sea receded again and the people entered the revealed dry land, it happened that a little child was abandoned in that place, as his parents forgot him. As soon as they realized it, the waters of the sea had returned to their place, so they raised lamentations and wailing throughout the city. The following year, when the wave had subsided again, the parents went and found their child healthy, sitting by the larnax of the Saint. When they asked what and how it had happened, they learned from their child that he was being fed by the Saint who was there, who also protected him from the harm of the fish. Full of joy, they took their child, thanked the Saint in the appropriate way and departed for their home, praising God for this miracle of His.

Prologue in Sermons: November 24

 

A Lesson for the Literate

November 24

(Commemoration of the Holy Great Martyr Katherine)*

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

There have been instances where some literate and skilled readers of the divine books abused their knowledge and brought ruin upon themselves and others. Such individuals, usually infected with pride, began to consider conversation with their Orthodox neighbors too low and retreated to other proud souls like themselves — the teachers of the schismatics. There, naturally, due to inexperience, they quickly became infected with the latter's false teachings and then, returning from them, suddenly began to blaspheme the Orthodox Church. Thus, instead of finding in them, as knowledgeable people, true friends, children, and protectors, our Mother Church found only evil enemies and persecutors. Brethren, learn to read the Scriptures! Is this how you should act? Look around. Look at the lives of the saints, and you will see that the more knowledge they acquired, the more firmly they held their faith and the more concerned they were with spreading it, rather than selling it out. Here is one such example.

Saint Amphilochios of Iconium in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Amphilochios, having passed through every ecclesiastical rank from a young age, and shining with asceticism and divine knowledge, by the vote of the people he was appointed Bishop of the city of Iconium, in the times of the emperors Valentinian and Valens, while his life was prolonged until the reign of Theodosius the Great and his sons. He, because he became a teacher of the Orthodox faith and strongly opposed the heretical error of Arius, endured many persecutions and sorrows from the impious, becoming a co-struggler with the blessed Fathers against the blasphemy of Eunomius. Amphilochios was one of the one hundred and fifty Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Synod (381 AD) and fought hard against the pneumatomachos Macedonius and the disciples of Arius. After the reign of Theodosius the Great had prevailed and he had handed over all the power of the West to Valentinian the Younger, and after Theodosius had returned victorious after having destroyed the tyrant Maximus, the great Amphilochios came to him and urged him to drive out the Arians and give the churches back to the Orthodox. But since the emperor did nothing, the wonderful man devised the following scheme: He went to the palace and greeted Emperor Theodosius, but did not greet his son Arcadius, disdaining him. The Emperor, resentful of this incident, considered the dishonor that Amphilochios had shown to his son to be an insult directed at himself. He then very wisely revealed the purpose of his action and said: "Do you see, O Emperor, how you do not suffer the dishonor of your child, but are resentful? Believe, then, that in a similar way God also abhors and hates those who blaspheme the Son of God." Then the Emperor understood and wrote laws that forbade the associations of heretics. This fearless man, after shepherding the flock of Christ for many years and composing Orthodox discourses, reached a deep old age and rested in peace.